When the sea roars and the earth shakes

 

Be still, my soul! the waves and winds still know

His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Lutheran Service Book 752

The “dog days” of summer are winding down and, it’s hurricane season in the Caribbean! The season when hurricanes form runs from June to November, but the storms are more likely between August and October.

Hurricane Ida made landfall as a Category 4 storm, in New Orleans, August 29, 2021. Ida blasted ashore as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States, knocking out power to all of New Orleans, blowing roofs off buildings and reversing the flow of the Mississippi River as it rushed from the Louisiana coast into one of the nation’s most important industrial corridors. It hit on the same date Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years earlier, coming ashore about 45 miles (72 kilometres) west of where Category 3 Katrina first struck land. Ida’s 150-mph (230 kph) winds tied it for the fifth-strongest hurricane to ever hit the mainland United States.

A little more than a week earlier, Hurricane Grace pounded Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, downing trees and causing power outages for nearly 700,000 people. Then Grace moved on to the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz, causing severe flooding and mudslides that killed at least eight people. Before striking Mexico, the storm showered torrential rains on Haiti, a country still recovering from a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Haiti on August 15.

Northern Venezuela and Colombia only have a 1 to 5 percent chance of a hurricane strike in any given year. The northernmost part of Venezuela, namely the Paraguanà Peninsula, the Paria Peninsula and the islands (but sometimes also the northern coast), is located in the southern end of the trajectory of hurricanes. But it can happen. From August 7 to 9, 1993, Tropical Storm Bret moved across northern Venezuela and Colombia. Mudslides resulting from the heavy rainfall claimed 173 lives, while 10,000 were left homeless, and property damages totaled $25 million ($37 million 2008 USD).

But although Venezuela seldom has to deal with full-fledged tropical storms, we are affected by “tropical waves”. A tropical wave is an area of low pressure in the atmosphere moving westward from Africa into the Atlantic. Tropical waves last from a couple of days to several weeks, with new waves forming every few days. On satellite, these disturbances appear as clusters of thunderstorms and convection originating over North Africa and traveling westward into the tropical Atlantic. By providing the initial energy and spin needed for a hurricane to develop, tropical waves act like "seedlings" of tropical cyclones. Approximately 60 percent of tropical storms and minor hurricanes (categories 1 or 2), and nearly 85 percent of major hurricanes (category 3, 4, or 5) originate from tropical waves.

Even if they do not cause hurricanes, tropical waves often bring with thunderstorms and flooding rains. That’s what we have received over the past few weeks. Tropical waves 38 and 39 have destroyed over 8,000 homes and forced about 35,600 citizens to refuge in shelters. Besides affecting 116 roads and ten bridges, floods and landslides have damaged power stations in the states of Amazonas, Barinas, Bolivar, Delta Amacuro, Merida, Monagas, Tachira, and Zulia. Multiple floods and mudslides in in the neighboring state of Mérida have left 20 people dead and more than 1,200 buildings destroyed.

In La Caramuca, we have only had to deal with power outages. Our solar panels continue to work well, keeping the lights and security cameras going and the cell phones recharged. All the rain means excellent crops of fruits and vegetables. Luz Maria and I share the produce with our neighbors, those who stop by the mission and those we visit on evangelistic calls.

There also was a 5.2-magnitude earthquake in Portuguesa, another neighboring state, on August 25, and a 4.9 quake off the coast of Sucre state on August 30.

All of which brings to mind Luke 21:8-11. “There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.” As with many Biblical prophecies, the Lord in these verses speaks of two impending catastrophes, the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world, with one foreshadowing the other. So he warns his followers of the persecution that will precede the city’s downfall, and of false prophets who will predict the end of the whole world based on natural disasters and terrible wars. 

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:25-28).

For those of us living in these days, the Lord’s words also apply to hurricanes, earthquakes, COVID-19 and even the persecution of believers in Afghanistan and other parts of the world. Like the first-century Christians, we are not terrified by cataclysm, for we not the end will not come until the day God has pointed. Nor do we regard them as random events, but signs that great day will come. “All these are but the beginning of the birth pains,” says the parallel passage in Matthew 27:8.

All-powerful and eternal God, mercifully defend us from fires, floods, war and pestilence; from drought and storms, want and famine. Amen.

Looking to heaven

“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11

On Sunday, June 2, we will celebrate the Ascension of our Lord. This is the third great festival of the church year, although, unlike Christmas and Easter, it is largely forgotten by the world at large. The traditional date of Ascension Day is 39 days after Easter Sunday, which always is a Thursday. Some nations today recognize this date as a national holiday, including some countries that you might not expect, like Indonesia and Burkina Faso.

Venezuela is not among those countries, so we follow the custom of observing the Ascension on the next Sunday. The event is of such theological importance that the maximum number of our congregation should be in attendance.

Of course, we have been anticipating the Ascension. This week I talked to the preschool children about it.

The 40 days from Easter to Ascension are supposed to recreate the 40 days in which the risen Lord Jesus appeared to His disciples before being taken up into the clouds. Most of our appointed Gospel readings have been from the 16th chapter of John’s Gospel. Here we find a portion of a long discourse that Jesus gave to His disciples on another “Holy Thursday”, the night of the Last Supper.

In these verses, Jesus explains that He will “return to the Father”, a process of which His death, resurrection and ascension all will be a part. In His death on the cross, Jesus gained the victory over death, which made possible His exaltation in the resurrection and the ascension. The resurrection revealed to us His victory and the promise of our resurrection into eternal life. The ascension then had to happen so that He might receive all power and authority from the Father, to use that authority on our behalf as our Advocate and High Priest, and that in the exaltation of Christ in His human nature as well as His divine nature, we might share in His everlasting life.

Jesus also assured the disciples that He must return to the Father that they might receive the Holy Spirit to guide them to all truth and support them in the trials that they would face in this world until the Second Coming of Christ in glory (John 16:5-7).

Jesus warns His disciples, not only in the first century, but also today that they will face trials in life that they would not face if they were not Christians. Ridicule and ostracism, even bigotry and hatred toward Christ breaking out into violent persecution. We see pleny of evidence of that in our time, in which even the BBC reports that persecution of Christians around the world is at an all-time high.

But with the warning are words of consolation: “These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

The crisis continues in Venezuela

Recently, two articles about Venezuela appeared on-line in Lutheran media. "The Reporter", official newspaper of the LCMS, posted this article, "Crisis in Venezuela: Resting in God while hoping for change" with a quote from Luz Maria.

The Lutheran Heritage Foundation published "As Venezuela crumbles, God's Word brings comfort", with quotes from yours truly.

So far, we have not had a repeat of the nationwide power outage that left 90 percent of Venezuela without electricity or communications for three days. However, we have experienced localized power outages every day, lasting six or more hours. I would like to install more solar-powered lamps around the property for greater security at night. Also, we are looking into the possibility of a solar panel backup system at least to maintain the security cameras and wifi network during the blackouts.

The spring rains have arrived, so we have plenty of water in the well. We need to replace a valve to supply water to our public restrooms (we have an outbuilding with restrooms and showers for large gatherings of people). The power outages present us with a challenge to running our electric pumps, but we have our gas-powered generator. Of course, one difficulty with that is the rationing of gasoline.

The scarcity of gasoline also means we have to carefully plan our use of the car. But already the car has allowed us to make much more efficient use of our time in town. Long periods of waiting for a bus have been eliminated, and we can bring back much more than we can carry in our hands. We expect soon to receive a shipment of medicine from Global Lutheran Outreach and the Confessional Lutheran Church of Chile. The car should make it much easier to distribute the medicine to the people who need it.

 

Prayers for protection answered

On Rogate Sunday, May 27, we asked God’s protection for people in Peru. The country was rocked by a magnitude 8 earthquake early that morning. We prayed especially for Venezuelan expatriates in Peru, and especially for our Lutheran brethren who have become part of the LCMS mission in Lima. Thanks be to God, everyone that we know was unharmed.

A teaspoon of theodicy

More news on the Haiti front, or rather the frontier between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Last week Luz Maria and I met with Pastor Sergio Maita, who had just returned to Caracas following a week or two of volunteer service there. Sergio, a young Venezuelan man who was ordained with me in December 2009, traveled with Ted and Rebecca Krey, former missionaries to Venezuela who are now based in the Dominican Republic, to the bordertown of Jimani where they offered what assistance they could in a hospital that had become a refuge for earthquake victims. Sergio told us that he had taken a lot of pictures of trip to the Dominican Republic, but did not feel like sharing everything that he had seen in he hospital, for the suffering was very great.

On occasions like the earthquake in Haiti, there always are those try to draw grand conclusions about the misery. Some want to say that such suffering on a grand scale "proves" there is no God, or at least not a loving and merciful God. The problem for these people is that denying the existence of God does not relieve any of the pain experienced by earthquake victims or others one bit, or bring those that died back to life. Yet without an absolute point of reference, there is no basis for saying the pain and death in Haiti was "unjust" or "excessive" or anything else. The world is what it is, and apart from faith in God, there is little reason to think our efforts to change it will make any difference, that there is any hope for anything better (for even the concept of "better" has no significance) or that there is any point in helping those less fortunate than ourselves. Far from the existence of suffering on a grand scale disproving God's existence, only faith that God will one day provide recompense for those who have suffered unjustly, and judgment for the wicked who have evaded punishment by human courts and the natural consequences of their misdeeds, helps one make any sense at all of the whole business.

Image via Wikipedia

On the other hand, there are those who want to see the earthquake as a sign of God's wrath directed specifically at Haiti, perhaps for the worship of voodoo gods. In the same manner, the Maundy Thursday earthquake that devastated Caracas in 1812 was said by some to be a sign of God's displeasure with the Venezuelan War of Independence from Spain. This error, unlike the first, claims belief in the Holy Scriptures, but this is not true.

According to the Bible, certain calamities were indeed signs of God's wrath against the wicked and the disobedient. Old Testament examples include the Great Flood, the Ten Plagues of Egypt. various afflictions suffered by the Israelites in the desert, the destruction of the Assyrian king Sennacherib's army (1 Kings 19:35), and many more. In the New Testament, we have the death of Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:21-25) and the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11). But the entire book of Job and other passages of the Old Testament are devoted to refuting the idea that bad things only happen to bad people, and that the severity of the disaster reflects the level of God's wrath.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that God makes the sun to rise on both the evil and the good, and sends rain to both the just and unjust (Matthew 5:45). In Luke 21:25, He said the signs of the end-times will include "great earthquakes, and in various places, famines and pestilences," not to mention wars between nations and everywhere persecution of the faithful. These terrible events are not to be interpreted as specific judgments against the wicked, but rather as general signs that the great and final Day of Judgent is approaching.

We understand the significance of certain past events, such as the Great Flood and the Ten Plagues, based on the authority of divinely inspired Scriptures. Outside the Scriptures, there is no such authority and it is presumptuous to second-guess God. We know nothing of His nature and will outside of what He has chosen to reveal to us. The Bible contains all we need to know for our salvation, and there will be no more divine revelations until the glorious fulfillment of God's plan for the world in the second coming of Christ.

Thus we find the final word on this topic in Luke 13. Jesus was asked an event that caused a lot of stir and consternation back in that day. It was the massacre of Galileans in the Temple, ordered by Pontius Pilate (those that think the New Testament portrays Pilate as a fundamentally decent fellow, please note), such that their blood mingled with the blood of their sacrifices to God. Essentially, both questions were put to Jesus. If the Galileans had done nothing to deserve death, where was the just and merciful God during this massacre? And if they had done something especially deserving of God's judgment, what was it?

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Jesus responded by reminding them of an even more puzzling event (the apparently senseless deaths of 18 men in the collapse of the tower in Siloam) and answered both questions in this way:

Neither the Galileans or the 18 men in Siloam deserved death any more than anyone else. However, all humans stand equally condemned under God's law, and deserve not simply physical death, but eternal damnation. By God's grace, all who believe will receive forgiveness of sin and eternal life through the blood of Christ, but with few exceptions, no one will escape physical death (the few exceptions being Enoch, Elijah and those still living when the Lord returns). While we may have the promise of eternal life in heaven, none of us are guaranteed one year, 20 years or 80 years on this earth. So the question we must ask ourselves is not why this individual or that group of people had to die at a particular time and in a particular manner, but why we ourselves still are drawing breath. If we still are alive, God still has a purpose for us here. We may not know everything about this purpose, but He has revealed enough in His Word wor us to respond in faith. So, as Jesus said, we must not allow ourselves to be distracted by the petty pleasures of the world, but remain alert and watchful for opportunities to serve God and our fellow man.

Mirror images talking to each other

Luz Maria and I spent the last week of January in Caracas at a seminar on "the means of grace." Our instructor was Pastor German Novelli. Born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and confirmed in the Lutheran Church of Venezuela in 1983, German Novelli some years ago left his native country and embarked on on a geographical and spiritual odyssey that led him to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, and finally the Wisconsin Synod seminary in Mequon, Wisconsin. He now is the pastor of a Latino mission on Milwaukee's South Side.

Mequon, Wisconin, by the way, is also the location of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod's Concordia University, Wisconsin and Trinity Luth¡eran Church of Freistadt, the oldest Lutheran congregation in the state (and of which my great-great-grandparents were founding members).

I lived on Milwaukee's South Side from 1986 to 1995, so it was interesting to compare notes with Pastor Novelli on our impressions of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee area in particular. We were like two mirror images talking to each other: the Venezuelan serving as the pastor of a mission in Milwaukee and the former Milwaukeean serving as the pastor of a mission in Venezuela. I shared with him some of my fondest memories; the Lake Michigan shoreline in summertime, the Mitchell Park Conservatory, eating real Mexican food at the Acapulco Restaurant.

Pastor Novelli shared with me the thesis that he wrote for his masters in divinity degree on Wisconsin Synod mission work in Latin America. Active in the region since 1964, the Wisconsin Synod's missionary efforts in the past focused on Mexico, Puerto Rico and Colombia.

Today the Wisconsin Synod supports what it calls its LATTE team. LATTE stands for Latin American Traveling Theological Educators. Latin American because work is done in all of the mission fields in Latin America—Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Brazil. Traveling because visits are made to each field on a rotating basis. Theological Educators because missionaries serve as the seminary professors of the men who desire to be pastors in their national churches. The LATTE program has been functioning since 2003.

The Wisconsin Synod also has been active in Haiti earthquake relief.

Evangelical Lutheran Synod missionaries have been active in Chile and Peru for about 40 years. The ELS has established a seminary in Lima, Peru. Thirteen men have graduated and have been ordained and twelve vicars and students continue working with congregations and various groups.

Lutheran alphabet soup

The current-day ELS developed from a remnant of the old Norwegian Synod that refused to merge with other synods in an effort to form one national Lutheran church-body in the United States. The end-result of these mergers is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The philosopher Voltaire once said of the Holy Roman Empire, "It was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire." Much the same could be said of the ELCA, except that it definitely is headquartered in America. In fact, German theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg basically said as much:

"Here lies the boundary of a Christian church that knows itself to be bound by the authority of Scripture. Those who urge the church to change the norm of its teaching on this matter must know that they are promoting schism. If a church were to let itself be pushed to the point where it ceased to treat homosexual activity as a departure from the biblical norm, and recognized homosexual unions as a personal partnership of love equivalent to marriage, such a church would stand no longer on biblical ground but against the unequivocal witness of Scripture. A church that took this step would cease to be the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church."

My great-grandfather, Andrew John (A.J.) Hemmingson, was a member of the old Norwegian Synod, which in fact had declared full pulpit-and-altar fellow with the Missouri in 1872. Pulpit-and-altar fellowship had been established between the Missouri and Wisconsin synods in 1868. From 1872 until the late 1950s, Missouri, Wisconsin and the ELS were partners in the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference. The Synodical Conference was a strong voice for confessional Lutheranism in the United States and has never been entirely replaced. The federation broke up when the Missouri Synod began moving toward closer relation with the more theologically liberal American Lutheran Church (ALC).

Fellowship between the Missouri Synod and the ALC lasted only until 1981, when a majority of Missouri Synod delegates to its national convention voted to dissolve the relation because of a continued drift toward the theological left by the ALC. In 1988 the ALC was absorbed into the ELCA.

May God grant that the remaining confessional Lutheran church-bodies find the basis for doctrinally sound unity and strengthened mission work at home and abroad.

Epiphany and earthquakes

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Happy New Year and a blessed Epiphany season to everyone! We celebrated the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem with a brief service of prayer on Wednesday, January 6. The group was comprised mainly of Luz Maria's family. We sang a beautiful Spanish Epiphany hymn:

Tras hermoso lucero, tres magos viajaban, pensando a palacio llegar;
Y llevaban regalos preciosos al Rey que deseaban a venir a adorar;
Al llegar a Belén, ¡Ved que bella!
Al llegar a Belén, ¡Ved la estrella!
Con su luz alumbrabra un establo y allí,
En el heno dormía el gran Rey.

Behind the beautiful bright star, travelled three Magi, thinking to a palace they'd go;
Bringing precious gifts for the King they would adore;
When they came to Bethlehem, Look, how lovely!
When they came to Bethlehem, Look, the star!
With its light shone on a stable and there,
In the hay slept the great King.

Feeling the earth move

Here, as in the United States, there is a great deal of concern about the victims of the Haitian earthquake. The Lutheran Church of Venezuela is collecting food, medical and other supplies to send to Haiti. Earthquakes are nothing new here.

In fact, an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale struck the coastal resort town of Carupano, Venezuela, on January 15, 2009. Fortunately, no one was injured and there was no property damage. Carupano is home to more than 120,000 people and is located in the eastern Venezuelan state of Sucre.

Cumaná, the capital of Sucre, was established by Franciscan monks in 1521, and is believed to be one of the oldest existing European settlements in the New World. However, Cumaná was leveled by an earthquake for the first time in 1530 and several times thereafter. So the oldest architecture in the city dates only from late 17th and early 18th centuries.

Caracas, the national capital, last suffered an earthquake this past fall, on September 12, 2009. That quake measure 6.4 on the Richter scale, but only seven people were injured and some houses made of mud and straw collapsed. The personal injuries mainly were the result of people panicking and stampeding out of a shopping mall.

The last really damaging earthquake in Caracas occurred on July 29, 1967, and was centered near the coast about 30 miles west of Caracas, with a magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter scale. When the earth stopped shaking, about 240 residents of the capital city were dead and hundreds injured and buried in the rubble where homes and offices once stood. Over $100 million property damage was incurred in the Caracas area and about 80,000 persons were left homeless. Maracay, about 50 miles west of Caracas, reported five deaths and 100 injuries. Several additional towns reported structural damage.

The 1812 Maundy Thursday earthquake struck Caracas on March 26 of that year and measured 7.7 on the Richter magnitude scale. It caused extensive damage in Caracas, La Guaira, Barquisimeto, San Felipe, and Mérida. An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people perished and the property damage was incalculable. The first international assistance received by Venezuela in response to the earthquake came from the United States, when the U.S. Congress unanimously approved the sending of five ships loaded with flour.

Perhaps the most damaging earthquake in western Venezuela was the Earthquake of Cúcuta, also known as Earthquake of the Andes, which occurred on May 18, 1875. It completely demolished Cúcuta, Villa del Rosario (Colombia), San Antonio del Tachira and Capacho (Venezuela). The earthquake killed many Venezuelans in San Cristóbal, La Mulata, Rubio, Michelena, La Grita, Colón, amongst others, and was felt in both Bogotá and Caracas.


Lights out across Venezuela

Earthquakes may be part of Venezuela's history, but of more immediate concern to most Venezuelans right now is the country's continuing energy crisis. The essential problem is that more than 70 percent of all the electricity in Venezuela is produced by the Guri Dam hydroelectric plant on the Orinoco River, the second- or third-largest hydroelectric complex in the world. An extended drought is making it difficult for the Guri Dam facility to keep up with Venezuela's increasing demand for electricity, and other avaible powerplants only have the capacity to supply about 20 percent of the country's needs. The government has formally imposed rationing of electricity on the entire country, which for us means the power outages occur at more predictable intervals and for no more than three hours at a time. However, we do have our backup generator in place now.

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